Need a little help with an encounter


Advice


Location: an underwater shaft opens to a cave with a subterranean lake and a mysterious island fortress. The fortress is abandoned of its original inhabitants and contains the remains of an ancient, advanced (alien?) civilization. The fortress is in partial ruins aside from the walls, a temple,and a huge altar.

APL is 10.

I'm at a loss as to what would be a good encounter here. Automated sentinels guarding the temple? A tribe of Lizard Men? A series of technology-driven traps? I dunno.

It doesn't have to fit thematically into my campaign as this is a side-side-side area the party has wandered into.

Any interesting monster ideas? Please share!


Sorry, I just need to be clear here: Is the island fortress entirely subterranean? I gather it is, from the description, but I had to check.

Assuming it is, I think it would be neat to have subterranean lizardfolk or something of that nature taking up in the ruins. Perhaps some lizardfolk found the caves long, looong ago and made it their home, but over time, folklore and superstition made them hesitant to leave, to the point where they have been shut off entirely from the outside world. They may be weird now, the way cave creatures tend to be: albino, and all but blind, perhaps.

Alternately, this seems like a good location for an aboleth. They're CR 7, but you can easily beef one up and/or throw in minions. Perhaps the lizardfolk worship it as some sort of god.

Guardian nagas are CR 10. I could imagine one guarding the ruins, believing that they are so old and rare that they (and the treasures still held within) should remain untouched. It's fun to insert good-aligned creatures as obstacles. A lawful good creature can be a real danger when you've broken the laws it holds dear, and it puts an otherwise good group in a tight moral quagmire: cutting down an aboleth is for the good of everyone (well, except the aboleth), but cutting down a guardian naga over what, a misunderstanding? Tricky.

EDIT: If this place is easy enough to find, consider inserting another group of adventurers who are raiding the place - or give them some other reason to be there, preferably one that opposes what the players are doing there. Depending on who becomes aware of whom first, you may get into a situation where one party keeps to the shadows and lets the other one set off all the traps and do the dirty work, only to swoop in at the last minute with an ambush in a bid to steal the treasure (if any).


Thanks for your ideas!

Yes, entirely underground and no, not well known at all. Party stopped at an island to get fresh water and the party's mage discovered a patch of airy water and informed the party that perhaps pirates have their treaure beuried at the bottom. They found a shaft at the bottom of the lake and pursued it down. It opened into the lair of a dragon turtle and they've escaped into a second shaft which led to a long tunnel which opened into this cavern.

I'm not even sure the party will wanna go in, but I should be prepared just in case. I've made the gates and the tops of the guard towers formed out of solid gold just in case they need some extra motivation. :)

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2013

I think I'd make it a forgotten aboleth lair. Advance the aboleth and populate the temple area with kobolds or lizard men who capture outsiders and feed them to the aboleth. Alternatively, the aboleth, waiting patiently these last centuries for someone to discover his land-locked sanctuary, fall prey to his domination abilities, and get him to a bigger pond woth more food and more sinister plans.

Also, if anyone is jonesing for their next character, this is a great place to knock someone unconscious and drive the rest of the party off, and then have that retired PC becopme the herlad of this new villain. The old PC vows to use his new station as the aboleth's lieutenant to gain his revenge for being left behind.

Best if it happens to a paladin so you can showcase the new antipaladin class later.

It might sound like I'm a jerk, but it's better than Extended Suffocation.


Thanks,that sounds like a great idea!

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